Now that the world is slowly returning to normal, the work from home era is coming to an end. More and more businesses are adopting hybrid working (a mixture of home and office), and some are returning to permanent office-based working.
While this does seem like a return to normality, the pandemic has taught us the importance of hygiene and sanitisation in the workplace. Think of it, a winter without cold and flu outbreaks at work! If that’s not a reason to keep up with your sanitisation routine, we don’t know what is.
If you’re not sure what you should be sanitising in the office, or how frequently you should be sanitising, then read on for our industry tips and tricks.
Offices are generally communal spaces, where multiple employees work in the same place and come into contact with the same things. Before you settle on a cleaning regime, you’ll need to consider a few factors:
The size of your office
The number of employees
How you use your office space (do you share it with other businesses?)
Do you have regular visitors?
If you have a large office with a number of employees, the chances of illness spreading is obviously higher than if you have a small team. In these cases, you need to take higher precautions.
Now you’ve established these facts, what’s next?
Daily Cleaning
There are certain items within the office that need to be cleaned daily; an occasional wipe-down twice a week just isn’t going to cut it.
Touch points are areas that are frequently interacted with, such as door handles, window handles, telephones, etc. You should get into a habit of spraying these with a disinfectant spray at the beginning and end of a working day. This will also ensure that your office is a safe visiting place for clients, customers, and employees!
If you have a private office bathroom and/or kitchen, this should be cleaned each day. Surfaces such as handles, taps and light switches need to be wiped down, and appliances such as kettles, microwaves and dishwashers will also need to be sanitised on a daily basis, ideally after each use.
This method of cleaning may sound ‘extreme’, but you’ll be thanking us when there’s no nasty cold circulating the office this winter!
If you’re in doubt about what needs to be cleaned daily, remember this simple list:
Door handles
Window handles
Telephones
Bathroom & Kitchen surfaces
Items and surfaces regularly touched
Kitchen appliances
Weekly Cleaning
There are some cleaning jobs around the office that don’t warrant a daily clean but should definitely be cleaned on a weekly basis.
These are simple tasks that you can do yourself should you wish to, such as emptying the bins and hoovering or mopping the floors. Desks should also be cleaned and sanitised at the end of each week, either by the employee assigned to that desk, or by you (this depends on the size of your office and how many employees you have working there at any one time).
If you have an office kitchen, private or communal, you should clean the fridges, microwaves, dishwasher, sinks etc., each week to avoid any build-up of odour or bacteria.
Need a breakdown of this information? Here’s a handy weekly cleaning list to remember:
Empty bins
Hoover or mop the floors
Clean & sanitise desks
Empty & clean fridges
Deep-clean kitchen appliances (microwave, dishwasher, oven, sinks)
Monthly Cleaning
For long-term office cleanliness, alongside keeping on top of the daily and weekly cleans, you should also establish a monthly cleaning regime.
This is for areas that don’t need to be frequently cleaned but should definitely have monthly attention. For example, if your office is in a high-rise building, then a monthly window-cleaning service will take care of any grime, and allow all of that lovely natural light to enter your space!
If you have a large office, or lots of shelves and other nooks and crannies, dusting probably isn’t your favourite activity. Luckily, you can get away with dusting once a month as long as you ensure you do a thorough job. This goes for any cushions around the office and, speaking of furniture, office chairs go on the monthly cleaning list!
Feeling overwhelmed? Here’s a simple monthly cleaning breakdown:
Window cleaning
Thorough dusting (cushions included!)
Clean office chairs
Wash any office blankets or throws.
Yearly cleaning (at least)
Usually reserved for time-consuming jobs that are conducted by professional cleaning companies, such as ourselves, annual cleaning doesn’t necessarily mean that the job can only be done once a year.
Ideally, these jobs should be done every quarter to keep your office looking and feeling fresh. The main annual cleaning jobs involve deep carpet and hardwood cleans, especially focusing on the main entrance to your premises where there will be the most footfall.
No one wants to walk into an office only to be greeted by a stained floor, often made worse in the winter months thanks to the wet conditions. Here at JDK Cleaning, we know that fresh and clean carpets leave a lasting impression, which is why we offer a specialist carpet cleaning service to our commercial clients across the UK.
Our professional team will arrive at your premises equipped with the latest technology and effective cleaning materials to bring your carpets back to life while eliminating tough stains and lingering bacteria. All you’ll need to remember for annual cleans are:
Carpet washing & cleaning
Hardwood deep-clean.
There you have it! If you own or rent an office space, then we hope this guide has helped you to determine what needs cleaning each day, week, month, and year. If you feel overwhelmed, or if your office is simply too large to do this yourself, then we are more than happy to help.
No matter the size of your business or company, our professional commercial cleaning services can be completely tailored to your needs and budget, so we can clean as frequently or as little as you need us to.
So, if you’d rather not have to worry about cleaning, contact us today!
